A Confession
 

Dear MTBers,

I must confess, I love Human Powered Vehicles.

My love affair began with bikes as a kid, then row boats, then sea kayaks, then whitewater kayaks, then road bikes, then recumbents, then mountain bikes - my current love affair.

Please don't tell my wife.

I like how the avatar matches this thread....

Me too. I also prefer most gravity sports. Well, ones that doen't require a parachute or bungee cord. Started out canoeing, moved to touring kayaking briefly, then spent the last three years whitewater kayaking. I started running class V this past year and realized the importance of having strong legs. Thus, the mountain bike purchase last month. It's a great off-season sport for whitewater kayakers. Here's a couple of my exploits from this Winter and Spring. I'm the guy who can't boof (Green Mamba) in the first one and I'm in the Yellow H3 in the second one. Where do you paddle?

http://www.rivers-end.org/curtis/greentruss.mov
http://www.rivers-end.org/curtis/Joh...LRC%20web2.mov

Hi Curtis,

Great videos -- makes me want to put the Hammer on the Bronco and head to Great Falls on the Patomac, where I used to regularly ww kayak (tho I don't run the Falls). IV is my limit: Lower Gauley, Youghiogheny, New, and lots of other rivers in MD, VA, PA, WV.

What's identical about mtb'ing and ww is having to look ahead, pick lines, execute -- not to mention getting trashed when you blow it.

Take care, happy paddling and biking.

Al

No question. Last summer I did some riding on my brother's 125 cc dirt bike. I quickly realized that something like this would be great for improving my downstream vision and reaction time in a kayak. I opted for getting a mountain bike so to cancel out all the beer I drink on paddling trips. Seems to be working. I'm just starting out MTBing, but I'm already starting to look ahead and pick out lines. I'm hoping to get up to the Gauley or Upper Yough this fall. Never paddled in WV or MD. Mainly just in the Southeast and out west. I hear the Yough rocks. Hopefully I'll make it out there.

Let's see, I own two canoes, three bikes (not counting anyone else in my house), Lord knows how many hydration packs, three tents, a closet full of backpacking equipment. Everything I need for adventure racing (which is a lot) and a vehicle I can fit it all in when I want to get away. But i'm not obsessed with it or anything.

I like some human powered vehicles. I like them a lot! Bikes, trikes, and unicycles. I also like a lot of other things I can't think of at the moment. I however like engined powered vehicles too.